


confessions

by kamalakhan



Series: pawnee pride [1]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Ben Wyatt Is Bisexual 2k17, Comfort, Coming Out, Dorks in Love, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, fun fact there is never enough ben/leslie fluff in the world, kinda???? but mainly just, this is p much literally just fluff and i regret nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 21:11:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11677152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamalakhan/pseuds/kamalakhan
Summary: Ben has something important to tell Leslie.





	confessions

Ben felt certain he shouldn’t be worrying about this as much as he was. Sure, he’d never really actually _told_ anyone before, but it wasn’t really a big deal. He’d never even really given any thought about being interested in men _like that_ until he’d gotten to second base with a guy while drunk at a party in college, stereotypical as it was. He’d never actually _dated_ a guy, or done anything more serious than a few drunken make out sessions, but he still considered himself bisexual and it was an important part of who he was. He and Leslie hadn’t been dating that long, but after their reunion at the small park, Ben knew this relationship was going to last. When Leslie Knope, a woman so obsessed with her work it was almost comical, had said she was prepared to put her career – her life’s work, her livelihood – at risk for him and their relationship – the significance of the gesture had not been lost on him, to say the least. It was really the least he could have done to return the favour, to resign and make sure her job was safe, even if her campaign was completely out of his control. Ben loved her, and he knew she loved him too. It felt right, telling her. He wanted her to know. So why was he freaking out about it so much?

 

Leslie was getting suspicious. While her sexy elf king boyfriend was high-strung at the best of times, he was _definitely_ looking twitchier than usual. She was trying not to steamroller him into telling her what was bothering him, but it was _so hard,_ especially when he didn’t make a single comment on how the stacks of dessert recipe books in her kitchen had gotten higher (they really had; this was their first time being back at her house since their break up and she had gotten a little too into comfort baking at the time) _or_ the fact that she wasn’t having any whipped cream in her hot chocolate! The whipped cream had been a test to see how little he was paying attention, and she was regretting it as she burned her tongue on her hot chocolate. Hot chocolate was _hot_ if you drank it straight away instead of eating the whipped cream on top first. Ben flinched when she clunked her mug on the coffee table and Leslie felt her patience snap.

“What’s up, babe?” she said, trying to sound nonchalant and not like she was worried about him, but she suspected it didn’t quite work. Ben jumped.

“N-nothing! I just- I have something I need to tell you.”

Leslie felt her stomach plummet. Nothing good ever followed those words. Was he having second thoughts about their relationship? Was he dying? Was _she_ dying? Maybe he had gotten a job offer in Eagleton and was going to move there and start dating Lindsay Carlisle-Shay and have insufferable snobbish babies. Maybe he’d developed a _whipped_ _cream allergy_. Ben finally looked up from his hands and smiled nervously at her.

“Look, it’s not really anything big, it’s just- it’s just important to me that you know, because I love you. I’m- I like men.” Ben grimaced at the words right as they were leaving his mouth. That was not how he had meant to phrase it. Leslie looked on the verge of tears, but also resigned, as if she’d been in this position before.

“So you want to break up.” Ben frowned.

“No, I- I’m not gay, Leslie. I just told you I love you!” Leslie sniffed dejectedly.

“So did the last guy who broke up with me because he said he was gay,” she said accusatorially.

“You- A guy broke up with you because he was gay?” Ben felt momentarily derailed as bafflement overtook him.

“Oh, yeah. We’d been dating two years in college. He was lying, though, at least I assume so. He’s married to my old roommate now. Who is definitely female. And can get very graphic discussing their sexual exploits.”

“Good Lord, Leslie,” Ben stared at her in disbelief. Leslie gave him a small unhappy smile and a shrug as if to say ‘what can you do’.

“Leslie, I’m not gay. I’m bisexual, I like men and women.”

Ben held his breath as Leslie looked at him, considering.

“You’re not trying to get me to say yes to a threesome where I have to watch as you have sex with another girl, right?”

Ben gaped in disbelief.

“Leslie, I would never- That doesn’t even make sense! Did someone do that to you?” Leslie scoffed and waved her hand theatrically.

“What? No. Of course not, no, you’re right, that doesn’t make sense, hey can you smell brownies burning?” Ben grabbed onto her wrist as she tried to stand up from the couch they both were sitting on.

“Leslie. I love you and I like you and I would never do anything like that to you, I promise.”

Leslie smiled at him.

“I love you and I like you. But I would _also_ love some brownies now,” she said as she pecked him on the lips and stood up. Ben laughed.

“Alright then, Future Councilwoman Knope, how about we make some brownies and watch whatever’s on the History Channel?” Leslie climbed into his lap and crashed her mouth onto his in a surprisingly fierce kiss. Right when Ben finally snapped out of his surprise enough to grab her hips, she stood up again.

“That”, she said, brushing her hair out of her face on the way to the kitchen and leaving a very flustered Ben on the couch, “was the sexiest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

* * *

 Several hours later, when they were both lying tired and sweaty in bed, Ben looked at her.  
Looked at Leslie Knope, the blonde firebrand who burned so bright there was no way a small town like Pawnee could hold her. The girl that, twenty years down the line, everyone who fought with her today would be bragging about how they used to know her way back when. The weird goofball who’d been through so many terrible breakups because nobody seemed to see just how special she was. The woman of his dreams who was so unlike every other girl he’d ever dated but was so incredibly perfect for him it almost made him believe in fate, in soulmates. Leslie cocked an eyebrow at him, amused.

"What?”

Ben smiled at her.

“You’re really okay with me being bisexual? You’re not worried about me- I don’t know- cheating on you with a guy or something?”

Leslie propped herself up on one elbow, the duvet cover slipping down to reveal the red marks he’d left on her chest. God, she was beautiful. She frowned.

“Benjamin Wyatt, would you ever cheat on me with a man _or_ a woman?” Ben shook his head frantically.

“Of course not!” Leslie smiled and moved closer to cuddle into him properly, slinging an arm over his waist and a leg over his hips in an interesting impression of a horizontal koala. Everything Leslie did was so strange, in the best way and Ben enjoyed her behaviour all the more for its unpredictability.

“Then it’s fine. I’m a gay hero, remember,” she said, yawning and snuggling into his chest as Ben dropped a kiss to the top of her head, “also I made out with a girl at college. It was pretty hot.”

God, Ben loved her so much.

* * *

 The next morning, Ben pulled on one of his old band t-shirts as Leslie, having been awake for hours with nothing to do, lay in bed, ‘appreciating the view’.

“God, babe, you’re so sexy. And your butt specifically. And all of you.”

Ben grinned, somewhat uncomfortably. This particular quirk of Leslie’s was one of the ones he was struggling more to come to terms with, but it was doing wonders for his self-esteem. He lay back down in bed because why the hell not? It wasn’t like they had anywhere to be.

“Hey, Leslie? About what I told you last night.”

Ben rolled over to face her only to find her face inches from his. He gave in to temptation and brushed a kiss to her nose to see her wrinkle it cutely. She giggled. 

"Y'know I thought you were going to tell me something that could really have caused problems in our relationship! I thought maybe you'd stopped loving Lil' Sebastian or something!" 

Ben's smiled became decidedly more forced. He cleared his throat.

“So, anyway... I know by telling you anything I’m automatically also telling Ann,” he started, noting Leslie’s unabashed grin, “but if you could maybe... not tell the others about this, that’d be great.” Leslie frowned.

“You shouldn’t be ashamed of your sexuality Ben! I know Pawnee can be pretty old-fashioned when it comes to this kind of stuff but your friends will accept you no matter what!”

Ben smiled at her.

“I’m not _ashamed_ , Leslie, I just don’t think they need to know,” Ben frowned, imagining what Ron’s reaction to him coming out as bisexual would be, “or would want to know, really.”

Leslie gave him a look that said she didn’t believe what he was saying was true but that she would go along with what he wanted.

“Well if you’re sure you don’t want to tell anyone, I won’t steamroller you into it,” she mumbled, looking away. Ben caught her chin with his finger and leant in to kiss her.

“Thank you, Leslie. This means a lot to me. I love you.”

Leslie smiled into the kiss and ran her fingers through his hair. 

"I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> sorry 4 the weak ass title folks i could not think of a thing
> 
> i kind of wanted to write smth more r rated in this somewhere but they wouldnt stop being cute so i stuck with the pg fluff bc i love this ship to death
> 
> hope yall enjoy and there's a sequel in the works but god knows if i'll ever finish it tbh  
> HERES HOPING 
> 
> i really tried to stay in character so pls let me know if something i wrote sounds wrong (probably ben i was v unsure about his voice in this) 
> 
> hope yall liked it ;*


End file.
